


And Neither Are You.

by BloodFrost



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren Fluff, Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, Death, Denial, Eventual Fluff, Fluff, Friendship, I Ship It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Kylux - Freeform, M/M, One True Pairing, Random & Short, Romantic Fluff, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-14 21:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19281928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodFrost/pseuds/BloodFrost
Summary: A death in the family can always be a hard thing for a person to handle, especially if the deceased was somebody you loved a great deal. Kylo Ren, new Supreme Leader of the First Order, finds this out the hard way when his mother, Leia Organa, passes.Unfortunately for everybody around him (and especially for his General, Armitage Hux), Kylo’s method of ‘coping’ leaves some to believe that he’s lost control of his mental facilities ...... and Hux has a difficult situation on his hands, in trying to snap Ren out of it.





	And Neither Are You.

As much as Hux disagreed with having such an elaborate service for a member of the Resistance, he couldn’t very well argue Kylo’s desire to show respect to his mother.

Or, not Kylo, but Supreme Leader Ren.

When the dark-haired Force user had first taken over the mantle from Supreme Leader Snoke, after the latter’s unfortunate “accident”, Hux had had his doubts. Kylo Ren, while undeniably strong, was severely lacking in the leadership skills, the patience, and in Hux’s estimation, the intelligence that Snoke had possessed. Ren was consistently a victim of his own fiery temper and emotional instability, and these qualities, combined with Ren’s natural arrogance, did not bode well for the future (or survival) of the First Order.

But Ren had surprised him, and everybody else, by stepping up to his new position in a major way. He actively worked on being calmer, and more level-headed. He made use of his advisory team to guide him in making smart decisions that would propel the Order forward. He even theorized and brought about a new, more accurate method of hunting and taking down the few pockets of the Resistance that remained spread throughout the galaxy.

His efforts were so good, in fact, that he managed to come across the main embodiment of the Resistance herself; his mother, Leia Organa.

It hadn’t really been a surprise to Hux, when Ren had ordered that they execute everybody on board the lone Resistance ship, EXCEPT for Ren’s mother. Instead, she had been taken prisoner, and put into a ‘holding cell’.

The ‘holding cell’ being a set of lavish chambers that rivaled even the Supreme Leader’s himself. Ren’s plan (or at least the one he told others, possibly just to save face) was to subject her to an intense series of interrogations and mind-invasions, to learn of the location of the rest of her fleet; then to offer her a position at his side, as his main advisor.

“If she refuses, she’ll simply be executed, same as the others,” Ren had told Hux, when questioned. But the way he had said it, with no force or conviction whatsoever behind his voice, led Hux to believe that no matter what, he was planning on keeping his mother alive (and close to him) for a very long time.

Yet, sadly, this would never come to be.

There were some in the Order that found General Leia Organa’s presence to be appalling, and downright demoralizing. They felt that Supreme Leader Ren was commuting an act of treason, just by having her there.

So one day, when Ren was away, a small group rose up and killed everybody that had been assigned to guard (protect) Leia Organa, then had done away with the lady herself. Ren’s instincts had told him something was wrong, and he had rushed home at light-speed ... only to find that he had been too late.

His mother was dead.

In a fit of rage that nobody had ever seen before, he found the men responsible, and he and his guards took them out one by one, in the most torturous, painful ways imaginable.

But it didn’t change the fact that his mother was dead.

And Ren had planned out a base-wide funeral for her, where her memory would be honored. Hux was against this idea, thinking that such an event could cause another mutinous wave; but Kylo Ren had been adamant about it.

So, on the day the event was to take place, Hux shelved his misgivings, put on his formal clothes, and made his way to Ren’s chambers.

“Enter,” came the voice in response to his knock.

At first, Hux wasn’t precisely sure what he was seeing. The image before him didn’t register in his brain at all, and he was badly frightened that he had gone insane.

Kylo was sitting on his throne ... and next to him, a chair had been placed. On it was a droid, one of the newer, more human-like models. But this one, had been made to look special. It had long brown hair, styled into a braided bun at the top of its head, and it’s irises had been painted to look a warm brown. It was clad in a blue silk dress, and it was propped up, one leg crossed over the other, so that it looked like it was just casually sitting there. As Hux stood there frozen, Ren got up, pulling a hairbrush from his pocket, and began gently smoothing back the droid’s bangs.

“I ... I ... uh ... I ...”

Kylo looked up at him, frowning. “Your inarticulate ramblings are very unbecoming to a man of your position, Hux.”

“Supreme Leader ... we ... the funeral. We have to ...”

“Funeral?”, Kylo asked, looking genuinely confused. “Did somebody die?”

Hux couldn’t form the words he needed to say, so he just pointed at the droid, which, clearly, looked like Leia. Kylo scowled. “My mother isn’t DEAD, Hux! She was simply sick for a while, but she’s made a remarkable recovery. Isn’t that right, mom?”

The droid had been switched off, so it didn’t verbally respond; but Kylo tilted his head and listened, as if it (she?) had just spoken back to him.

Hux took a deep breath, then another, trying to calm himself.

“Ren,” he began, temporarily leaving off Kylo’s title, “Listen to me. Your mother is dead. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. You have to accept that. I’ve arranged a lovely service for her, that we’re already late to. So come on; let’s —“

“I know why you’re upset, Hux,” Kylo said, completely ignoring what Hux was trying to say, “You think we can’t trust her, because she used to be a part of the Resistance. Well, please, stop worrying. Mom has agreed to join us as my advisor. Together we’re sure to bring a new order to the galaxy.”

“Supreme Leader —“

“I’m afraid I haven’t the time to talk with you now, General. Mother and I have much to discuss. You may leave us.”

“But —“

“I don’t recall you being quite this insubordinate, under Snoke. I hope I won’t be forced to use ‘persuasion’ on you to obey orders, in the manner that he did.”

Hux didn’t know what else to say. He was unsure of what to DO. The only thing he _could_ do was what he was told. So he turned on his heel and walked out, the doors sliding shut behind him.

“Keep an eye on him,” Hux told Ren’s two guards, before leaving for his office.

— - —

Several days later, and the situation with Ren only grew more strange.

Hux had cancelled Leia Organa’s funeral, and had placed her body in the special fluids that would preserve her until the Supreme Leader was finally ready to bury her.

Not that that time seemed to be approaching, at all.

Hux had been worried for a long while, thinking that as soon as others saw Ren behaving like this, they’d think he was grossly incompetent for the throne, and have him ‘taken care of’, the same way they had taken care of Leia Organa. 

But fortunately for Hux, he was able to keep Ren’s mental lapse sequestered to just a few rooms, and was able to make up a variety of reasons and excuses as to why only certain people could see him during this time. Meanwhile, Hux took on the majority of Ren’s responsibilities himself, thus ensuring that the Order would keep running smoothly.

But still.

Dealing with Ren, on top of all of that, was becoming exhausting for the stressed redheaded General.

‘Crazy’ or not, Kylo had lost none of his strength, or his reflexes. About a week ago Hux had sent a team of psychological specialists into the throne room, both to talk some sense into him, and to subtly try and remove the droid from the room. Kylo had listened to all they had to say, quiet, not responding, and he had SEEMED cooperative enough ... until, from the corner of his eye, he saw one of the men touch “Leia’s” arm.

Hux could hear the screaming from all the way down the corridor, and by the time he made it to the throne room, all of the men were dead, and Kylo was standing in the middle of the room with his lightsaber ignited, alternating between heavy breathing and apologizing to his mother for their ‘rude guests’.

Hux was running out of ideas, of how to cope with this. Kylo Ren was the Supreme Leader, true; but it was more than obvious that he was suffering from a complete psychological breakdown.

Kylo hadn’t been to his quarters in days, spending all his time in his throne room with the droid. Hux didn’t think he was sleeping much, if at all, either; no matter what time of the day or night Hux came by for his checks, Kylo could be observed talking animatedly to his “mother”. 

Food was delivered three times a day, enough for two people. And for some reason, Kylo didn’t allow the servants to clear out the old food trays at the end of meals, instead letting dozens of them pile up in the corner. When Hux had calmly questioned this, Kylo had explained to him that his mother hadn’t been hungry right then, but would probably “nibble at the leftovers later, like she used to when I was a kid.” 

The stench of the slowly rotting food, combined with Ren himself (the man hadn’t bathed in a criminally long time) became so overwhelming that Hux had staffers and stormtroopers alike threaten to quit before they could be made to enter the room. And every time Hux attempted to open the windows, he was told that Leia needed them closed because she got chilly very easily. So Hux ended up going in himself, for every single request or demand that Kylo made.

One time, he had entered, and found a pile of disgusting womp-rats merging in the corner, squabbling over the discarded food. Hux had taken out his blaster and shot every one of them dead, then picked up the bodies and thrown them out the window, despite Kylo’s protests over both acts.

If that wasn’t horrifying enough, it seemed as though “Leia’s” demands were getting more ludicrous all the time.

“General. My mother thinks that this entire room could use redecorating.”

“Your mother thinks that?”

Kylo nodded, then bent towards Leia and cocked his head, as if listening to something. “I know, mom, I know,” he said to her, smiling, before turning back to Hux. “She also says our regiment could do with new uniforms. She says all white is inauspicious. She thinks the trooper uniforms should be black metal, with different colored trim depending on designation.”

Hux nodded, acting as though he was taking note of that in his DataPad. “Very well. Anything else?”

“Yes. My mother would like it if you joined us for the evening meal.”

Hux could just barely keep from making a face. The plugs in his nose wouldn’t hold out for as long as dinner would take, and he didn’t think he could stomach eating in such conditions.

“I’m afraid I have a rather important personal meeting to attend to; however I’d be happy to join you afterwards for tea.”

Kylo nodded. “Very well. You may go.”

He turned back towards his mother and began talking again, quickly, earnestly. As Hux watched, Kylo grabbed his mother’s hand ... and one of the droid’s small fingers snapped off in his grip. His eyes widened, and Hux thought he saw the first flickers of recognition light up behind his gaze. Yet Ren pushed it aside, put the broken digit in his pocket, and continued his conversation. Hux sighed and continued to walk out.

— - —

“Your mother won’t be joining us?”, Hux couldn’t help but ask, when he noticed that Kylo didn’t wheel Leia across the room to join them at the table.

It was about a week later, and Hux hadn’t been able to make any discernible progress with Ren. Hux was running on very low energy; yesterday, his total exhaustion had caused him to fall asleep while sitting in a meeting ... and stay that way until earlier this morning. 

The fact that nobody had tried to wake him up made Hux uneasy, as now _others_ were seeing that Hux was becoming overwhelmed with his duties.

Nevertheless, there was work to be done.

Hux was planning on expanding the stormtrooper barracks in order to make room for new recruits, and needed Kylo’s stamp of approval. So, after inserting new nose plugs, and straightening himself up, he made his way once again to the throne room. 

He had half expected (hoped) that Ren would reprimand him, for not showing up at his usual time yesterday evening ... but it appeared as though the Supreme Leader hadn’t even noticed his absence.

“She’s taking a nap,” Kylo responded to Hux’s inquiry now, in a tone that clearly conveyed that he thought such a thing should have been obvious to Hux. “She’s a bit older, after all. She gets tired easily.”

Hux just nodded, and began briefing Kylo on the events of the day. He spoke slowly, but he wasn’t entirely sure Kylo heard a word he said. The entire time, his eyes were trained on Leia’s face, across the room. Every so often he’d mumble something under his breath, then quickly scrub his hand across his eyes. His extremely bloodshot eyes. Hux was glad of the tiny plugs in his nose; Kylo had STILL not seen the inside of a shower. His hair had lost its trademark luster, and his face had a prominent dark, unshaven stubble coming in under his lip and around his chin.

Hux had finished with his business, and was about to get up and leave, when Kylo said, very softly,

“Do you ever stop to think about time?”

“What do you mean?”

Kylo shrugged. “I don’t know. Like, how interesting it is. How unfair. You can be a child one moment and an old man the next.”

“Well, no, I haven’t thought of it like that. I’m not an old man, after all. And neither are you.”

Kylo laughed and shook his head. “No. We’re not. But I FEEL old. I feel as though I’ve lived centuries in this body. You know .. the day I faced my father, the day I ... well. I was looking at his face and I was so afraid, Hux. I was terrified because I saw MYSELF when I was looking at him, gray hair and all.”

He looked up at Hux now, the expression on his face largely unreadable. “But it’s time. And now my father is dead, my mother is — much older, and I’m just —“

Hux was quiet for awhile, letting Kylo’s words sit in the air. This was the first time he had ever opened up like this, and it was so unexpected that Hux wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. 

“You know,” Hux said, quietly, “I understand what you mean, a little. Time can be rather unfair, can’t it? When I was about 14, my mother died. “

“That must have been hard on you.”

Hux nodded. “It was. So many feelings of regret, of anger, of sorrow. I hadn’t been the best son to her in life, and I felt badly about that. For the longest time, and I’m talking in terms of years, here; I could not accept her death. I could not accept that I had no more chances to talk to her, to ... to make things right between us.”

Kylo didn’t answer, only now his gaze was lifted from his mother and focused on Hux’s face. Seeing that he actually had Ren’s full attention, he went on:

“Eventually I did, though. Not on my own: I went to therapy, and I immersed myself in my schooling, and extracurricular activities. The therapy was the hardest thing for me to take, because I had been raised to believe that asking for help, or admitting that you needed it, was a sign of weakness.”

“Do you still think that?”

Hux shook his head. “No. I think that asking for help is one of the bravest, strongest things you can do. Living under my father — well, everything he did was his attempt to groom me for greatness. It’s very difficult living like that, under expectations that you can’t possibly fulfill.”

Ren was nodding, biting at his lower lip.

“I know. Maker, I know.”

A moment of quiet understanding passed between them, quick, but powerful. Hux decided that now was a good time to end his talk.

“Well then. I have several things to attend to, so unless you summon me, I will see you tomorrow. Good evening, Supreme Leader; Madam Organa.”

“Good evening,” Ren replied, barely audible.

— - —

Hux was surprised, when he entered the throne room the next day. The doors were already open, and the strong (yet welcome) scent of cleaning chemicals drifted out. The windows were all open, circulating the breeze. And, most shockingly of all, “Leia” was nowhere to be seen.

Kylo was sitting on his throne, slightly hunched over, blankly staring at the cleaning crew as they scrubbed around him. He snapped out of it a little when he saw Hux, and sat up straighter.

He looked different; and it took Hux’s second to realize that this was because his face was bare again, and his skin had taken on the muted shine that comes from scrubbing with soap. His eyes, while still red, were far less so than yesterday, leaving Hux to believe that he had gotten a bit of sleep.

Before Hux could comment on any of this, Kylo said, quietly,

“At around 1400 today, I’m having my mother buried underneath the tree in the West garden. You don’t have to, but I’d be very appreciative if you were to join me.”

Hux nodded. “I’d be honored, Supreme Leader.”

“And ... and afterwards, I’d appreciate if you accompanied me, in my ship, to Belsaris, one of our ally planets in the mid rim system.”

“Belsaris? That’s quite a distance away, isn’t it?”

Kylo nodded. “Yes. It is. But they ... they have an eating establishment there, that serves an exquisite roast bantha. Bantha is your favorite, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but —“

“Well, perhaps you’d care to go there, then? For ... for dinner? With me?”

Hux’s eyes widened, and for once in his life, words eluded him. Was he mistaken, or was Ren inviting him on what sounded like a personal, intimate outing?

As if to further confirm his suspicions, Kylo went on:

“It would be just you, and me. And the guards, of course. You’ve been working really hard, you could probably stand to get out of here for awhile. And I feel ... I feel that we have a lot that we could talk about.”

Hux smiled, lowering his head. “I would like that very much, Supreme Leader.”

“Kylo.”

“Kylo,” Hux amended. He turned to go but _Kylo_ called out to him, pausing Hux.

“Hold on a moment ... you have something on your collar.”

“Really?”, Hux said, looking down. “Where?”

Before Hux could grasp what was happening, Kylo had left his seat, and both of his arms were around Hux, locking him into a soft embrace.

“W-what was —“

“Sorry. I wished to hug you, but wasn’t sure how to ask permission.”

“You’re the Supreme Leader,” Hux said, feeling mildly embarrassed because he knew that he was blushing. “Permission is not needed.”

“You’d think that, but no. One time I was with Han Solo on a haul, to some king of a distant planet in the outer rim. This king hugged my father, and my dad punched him square in the face.”

“Really?”

“Mm. But that’s something we can talk about at dinner.”

So Hux left for good this time, a spring in his step that hadn’t been there for weeks, and a warmth flooding his chest unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

For once, he couldn’t wait for dinner.


End file.
